Mazza d'Evill

Wild Pikachu

Much better. If they had combined this episode and the first into a single 2-hour premiere, it probably would have been much smoother. All of the pieces that were thrown into the air started to naturally coalesce, and the ending seemed like a much more natural breaking point. Overall, this felt like a 2-hour episode that was sliced in half.

"Or maybe she's just a ghost." But that does touch on the one larger stumbling block I see coming, which is that (so far at least) nothing in the MCU is strictly supernatural. It will be interesting to see if they retcon the Ghost Rider concept to be caused by aliens rather than by demons/spirits.

The only other potential bit of downside I see is that two episodes in, I'm not sure what the overall story arc of the first half of this season is (presuming that they follow the pattern of breaking the season into halves). None of the threads they have going really seem big enough to do the job. Although there's still a piece missing, involving "him" and "the book" (and maybe that's also connected to the Ghost Rider). Although I guess there doesn't necessarily have to be a "Big Bad"...it could just be the story of S.H.I.E.L.D. going public while Daisy and Ghost Rider deal with whoever and whatever is behind the other ghost people. That could probably fill ten or eleven episodes.

And we got some more of the signature quiet scenes, with Coulson and May in the locker room, and Daisy/Mack/Fitz on the quinjet. Fitz nailed it, of course, though I think Daisy's motivations are a bit thin (or at least unexplained) to this point. And the new Director is an interesting character...again, all of the sinister buildup in the premiere leading to a much more nuanced explanation. (And the fact that he's brushing Coulson off on the subject of May and Daisy is understandable, as off-putting as it seems, because he's right—Coulson can't be objective about them.) And they shunted away the Radcliff/Aida storyline, which was the one plot that doesn't seem to be dependent upon anything else going on and, to me, could have been put off until later in the first place.

Mazza d'Evill

I need to think a little longer, but I think I'm really really REALLY gonna love this season. It would indeed have been great if this had been a 2-hour premiere.

I'm pretty sure they're be some not-completely-supernatural solution to all of this soon There are some 'Mystical' things in Marvel Comics, right? Like Doctor Strange? (who's now even in the MCU) A combination of the supernatural and science? I still don't believe AoS telling this story now is COMPLETELY coincidental in regards to the upcoming Doctor Strange movie, but okay

I'm sure we'll see AIDA soon again. It's not unusual for AoS to introduce a certain storyline in one episode, only to let it rest for one or more episodes after that, because it doesn't fit the episode (and, in this case, Fitz was on assignment!).

I'm actually quite happy now that AoS moved to 9/10pm, even if that would mean this will be their last season (which I hope it's not, but I know the chances for ABC 9/10pm shows on Tuesday nights ). It feels dark, grown up, edgy.. me likes

Oh, according to next week's promo..


ETA: Wait, also according to the promo, there's no AoS next week? "2 weeks from tonight..."

Wild Pikachu

Well, now they can start to do some juggling. I imagine we won't see a lot concerning the new Director or S.H.I.E.L.D. politics next week, which took a lot of time in the premiere to build up. So they'll have time to go back to Radcliff and Aida.

Don't know about Dr. Strange, but it seems that in the MCU, even the things that seem "mystical" (like Loki's staff or the Eternity Stones) ends up being alien technology or undiscovered science, not literally god/devil stuff... I expect that's the route they'll take with Ghost Rider.

Next Tuesday is the Vice-Presidential debate.

Mazza d'Evill

Oh yeah, it's election year...

And indeed: usually when things start to get 'supernatural' (which has been the case in AoS before, for example the Berserker staff in S1, the Diviner(s) in S2, the big multidimension rock (what was that thing called again? ) in S3, etc.), it all turns out to be alien tech.

And I do think there will be some type of 'big bad' soon. Especially when the 'ghosts' started talking about 'what he did to us' ('the devil'?). I'm interested to know who that will be

*OldHollywoodStarlet*

crash landing

LOVED so glad that I decided to stick even after they "officially" killed Grant and left a void in my heart cause missing Brett

Wild Pikachu

Sarahbun Maybe Radcliff will build a LMD of Grant.

Raonaild

I agree that, at the moment, the show is missing a Big Bad. With Hydra gone, it'll be interesting to see what sort of Big Bad we end up with this year.

As for the new Director, I think there are still an awful lot of questions about him and what's happened to SHIELD over the last six months, and if anything the introduction of the Director in this ep and his conversations with Coulson left us with more questions than answers. We still don't even know his full name.

I'm also having trouble reconciling all the new bureaucracy and compartmentalization and lie detector tests with the new Director's "a team that trusts is a team that triumphs" motto. All those new procedures demonstrate a massive lack of trust in everybody. If you trust your team, none of that should be necessary. Right now it's having the opposite effect, antagonizing everybody and making them not feel like part of the team.

Oh, and the new Director telling Coulson that May's fate was classified reminded me a lot of Coulson telling Fitz the same thing about Skye in S2, I disliked Coulson for doing it then and I dislike the new guy for doing it now.

Mazza d'Evill

I don't miss a 'big bad' at all, so far. But that could just be me we're definitely gonna get a big bad soon though, I'm pretty sure of that.

I'm REALLY glad you stuck to the show, Sarah. Or I wouldn't have gotten my current icon

I hate the director for telling Coulson that May's case is classified, and at the same time, I totally understand it. It's a sensitive case, and Coulson can't be objective at all. But at the same time: Coulson used to be the DIRECTOR of SHIELD, so everything about the orginization should still be known to him, right? It's confusing

I'm so happy I'm feeling all hyped up by this show again After S3 (which was great, but still a bit of a let down at the same time) I was afraid that feeling would never come back, but now it kinda does

*Dark_Angel*

Still wondering what the heck what happened to those "Ghosts"

I'm scared for May!

I don't know how I feel about the new director yet, but a part of me is glad that he is an Inhuman.

The Ghost Rider character is growing on me as well and I really hope they don't try to go to the romance route with Robbie and Daisy..it's too soon for that.

indigo sunrise

I agree with this, I really liked last week's episode but this episode really felt like it was a direct continuation of that one, and some things fell into place that I would have liked to see immediately/not a week after. Still, I am really liking this season so far, and I'm very interested to see where it goes from here!

I totally thought it would be much more drawn out for Daisy to finally run into (some of) the team again. And I really liked the way it happened. Of course Mack would be upset to hear she's been in contact with YoYo all this time. Of course Fitz would take it personal that she left them. I'm glad it's not all getting resolved so easily.

And oh, May I'm really scared for her. That was so intense to see. I LOVED that big fight scene, and it was a really cool way to introduce what the new director really is. Probably naive, but it didn't even occur to me that he could be Inhuman also... "I can do May. I.. can do that... May" I died.

I'm honestly still a bit ehh about Robbie/Ghostrider. It's intriguing to me what really happened to him, but so far he doesn't seem like anything new, like others have pointed out before I totally get a Punisher vibe from him so far. I'm still interested to see where they take him though, and where his powers come from.

Also as a Jemma fan I'm excited about being excited about Jemma again for a while there I felt like I didn't even really know who she was anymore, but now she is starting to feel like the old Jemma again, but with a really badass edge to her and I like it. Most of all I like that she's consistently there, even if she hasn't had all that much to do yet, it's a big step up from last season I feel. I kind of feel that way about everyone, though. It's so noticeable that the cast is smaller and that they can focus more on each character. Even though I sorely miss some of the ones we lost, it's a very nice change.

Uhmm I'm rambling a bit, I'll leave it at this

Mazza d'Evill

I love reading rambles, so if you have anything else to ramble about... just continue

And same as you, I also kinda sorely miss some of the old characters (especially Hunter and Bobbi), but I LOVE the fact that the team is small again, more or less like the team in season 1, even though it's not even really a team right now. They're finally taking their time again to lay focus on different characters and how they actually feel about different things, etc. Especially that was kinda rushed in seasons 2 and 3.

indigo sunrise

Yeah, but I kind of do feel (and I hope it's not just wishful thinking on my part) that they're setting it up so that the team will all come together again at some point and be stronger together. I don't even know what I'm basing that on, but I'm just getting that vibe (again, maybe wishful thinking )

In the mean time, I enjoy seeing different/old dynamics back, such as Jemma and May, Fitz and Mack, Coulson and Mack, Daisy and YoYo, May with her trainees, Jemma and Mack (that hug in 4x01!!!!!!), Fitz and Radcliffe, Fitz and Daisy in how we really saw how he felt about her leaving, everyone with the new Director, etc. I hope they continue to switch things up and have everyone interact with everyone again cause that's one of the things I miss most about S1, how they not just all had around the same amount of screen time, but also how each individual relationship between the characters was explored.